Choose Copilot if your team genuinely works inside Microsoft 365 all day and the copy-paste tax is real. Choose ChatGPT if you want the cheaper, more flexible tool and can live with moving text between a browser tab and your documents.
If your team already lives in Word, Excel, Outlook and Teams, this comparison is not about which assistant is smarter. It is about whether being inside those files is worth the price difference.
That price difference is larger than it first looks, and the way it is advertised is the first thing worth understanding.
At a glance
| Criterion |  Microsoft 365 Copilot |  ChatGPT |
|---|---|---|
| Used mainly for | Drafting in Word and Outlook, summarising Teams meetings | Content writing, research |
| Entry price | €21.84/mo · Microsoft 365 Copilot Business | €8.00/mo · Go |
| Free plan | ✕No | ✓Yes |
| Free trial | ✓Yes | Not stated |
| Works on | Web, Windows, macOS, iOS, Android | Web, iOS, Android, API |
| Documented integrations | Word, Excel, Outlook, Microsoft Teams, SharePoint | API, GPT Store, Third-party apps |
| Setup | Moderate: 30 min | Easy: minutes |
| Main limitation | No free plan, and the entry price assumes you already pay for Microsoft 365 | Free tier usage caps |
| Our evidence level | Vendor documented | Vendor documented |
| Try it | Try Microsoft 365 Copilot ↗ | Try ChatGPT ↗ |
Every cell comes from the tool's record, built from its official documentation and pricing page. The integrations listed are the ones the vendor documents, not tested by us.
What Copilot does that a browser tab cannot
It is already where the documents are. Summarising a long thread in Outlook, drafting from a file you have open in Word, or getting a recap of a Teams meeting you missed happens without exporting anything. For a team that spends its day in those applications, removing the copy-paste step is the whole value, and it is a real one.
Read the pricing twice
Copilot is an add-on: it assumes you already hold a Microsoft 365 plan, so the amount on the card is on top of what you already pay. The lower annual figure Microsoft advertises is also a promotional rate shown struck through from a higher standard price. Compare it against ChatGPT's plan on the cards above with that in mind, and note that Copilot has no free tier at all, so there is no way to try it before committing a seat.
The part neither one solves
Both still need checking. An assistant that can read your documents can also summarise them confidently and wrongly, and being inside Outlook does not make an answer more accurate: it makes it easier to send without reading. The teams that get value from either are the ones that treat output as a draft.
Pricing side by side
| Tool | Verified price | Billing condition | Free | Checked | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Microsoft 365 Copilot | €21.84/mo · Microsoft 365 Copilot Business | €21.84 excl. VAT per user/month billed monthly; €18.20 per user/month paid yearly, shown discounted to €15.60. It is an add-on: you must already hold a Microsoft 365 plan | No | 25.10.2026 | Visit ↗ |
| ChatGPT | €8.00/mo · Go | Monthly billing only: OpenAI offers no annual billing for Go, Plus or Pro | Yes | 03.11.2026 | Visit ↗ |
Frequently asked questions
Is Copilot included in my Microsoft 365 subscription?
No. It is a paid add-on on top of an existing Microsoft 365 plan, billed per user. The card above shows the entry price and the billing condition attached to it, including the fact that the annual figure is promotional.
Can I just use ChatGPT with my Office files?
You can upload files and paste text, which covers most of what a small team needs. What you lose is the automatic context: Copilot can reach the document you have open and the meeting you missed without you fetching anything.
Is there a free way to try Copilot?
Not at the business tier. Copilot has no free plan, so evaluating it means paying for at least one seat for at least one billing period. ChatGPT's free tier makes a trial cheaper by comparison.
Recently at these tools
Microsoft 365 Copilot: Copilot Chat sits inside Copilot Search results for follow-up questions, and Copilot Chat on the web can regenerate an answer or switch model. Source ↗
Microsoft 365 Copilot: A License Requests page in the Microsoft 365 admin center gathers Copilot licence requests for administrators. Source ↗
ChatGPT: Week of 12 October: your dot (the assistant that keeps working between conversations) can be opened from iOS Home Screen widgets and Apple Shortcuts, for accounts with dot access. Source ↗
ChatGPT: Week of 5 October: dots can be created and set up from the ChatGPT mobile app. Source ↗
Read on each vendor's official changelog, not tested by us.